The Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub, and the Land Trust Alliance are offering an online short course designed for land trusts actively working on stewardship projects in forests, suburban, and urban forests, forested watersheds, and wetland systems.

Course Goals

• Identify locally important climate change impacts and vulnerabilities.
• Explore the quick start guide to adaptation planning for land trusts as a way to consider climate change in planning.
• Develop actions to help your project or natural area adapt to changing conditions.
• Communicate with partners about climate impacts and adaptation responses.

Register for the short course here!

Download the Quick Guide to Adaptation Planning for Land Trusts

Logistics

• The course follows the Quick Guide to Adaptation Planning for Land Trusts published by the USDA Forest Service in partnership with the Land Trust Alliance. Download the publication here. 
• This course will be held over four weeks requiring three 90-minute virtual live classes, a self-guided field session, and assignments. Instructors will provide guidance, periodic check-ins, and coaching.
• Land trusts can participate as individuals or in groups up to five. 
• For the self-guided field session, participants are asked to visit a property or natural area of their choosing and think about real-world applications of the course material.
• Office hours are available throughout the week - participants can setup a 15-minute meeting with course instructors as needed.

Course Agenda

Weekly agenda and assignments

Each session is 90 minutes, and begins at 11a PT/12p MT/1p CT/2p ET

Schedule:

• Week 1. Wed. October 25, 2023. Introduction to short course, adaptation concepts, and tools.
• Week 2. Wed. November 1, 2023. Assessing site-level impacts and vulnerabilities for your project area.
• Week 3. Week of November 6-10, 2023. ** No virtual session** Field Activity:  Visit your field site to complete the Adaptation Quick Guide 
• Week 4. Wed. November 15, 2023. Sharing your adaptation projects and moving forward on implementation & monitoring.

Resources

• Land Trust Alliance- Climate change resource page
• Climate Change Education Modules
• Native Lands Digital Map
• USDA Climate Hubs
• Regional Vulnerability Assessments- USDA Climate Hubs
• USDA Climate Change Tree Atlas
• Climate Change Impacts on Heat and Hardiness Zones- Story Map
• Climate Adaptation for Land Trusts - additional resources
• Federal funding opportunities for land trusts

Contact us

Please contact Mattison Brady and Samantha Myers with any questions.

More information on the Quick Guide to Adaptation Planning for Land Trusts

The 4-week course follows the Quick Guide to Adaptation Planning for Land Trusts document published by the USDA Forest Service in partnership with the Land Trust Alliance. 

This Quick Guide, created by the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science in collaboration with the Land Trust Alliance, was developed specifically to support land trusts and serve as a stepping stone for the process of adaptation planning. Information from this toolkit was adapted from the USDA Forest Service report Forest Adaptation Resources: Climate Change Tools and Approaches for Land Managers, 2nd edition. The Quick Guide includes an updated "Short Version" of the Adaptation Workbook that was originally described in the Forest Adaptation Resources (Appendix 4).

Citation for the Quick Guide to Adaptation Planning for Land Trusts:

Janowiak, Maria; Shannon, Danielle; Schmitt, Kristen; Baroli, Madeline; Brandt, Leslie; Handler, Stephen; Butler-Leopold, Patricia; Ontl, Todd; Peterson, Courtney; Rutledge, Annamarie; Swanston, Chris. 2022. A quick guide to adaptation planning for land trusts. NRS-INF-40-22. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 14 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-INF-40-22.